The coastal South African city has been battling droughts for nearly three years, amounting to the worst one in their history. With little rain on the horizon, the city has now ordered its 3.7 million residents to drastically cut their water consumption, take short stop-start showers, not wash their cars, and flush toilets as little as possible. If they don’t, all of their taps could be shut off by the government in April.

The city doesn’t appear to have any plan in place for such a SHTF event. But if the government cannot find a solution to the problem, Capetonians will be forced into “bread lines” for water. As if that isn’t scary enough, city residents will have a limit of 5.5 gallons of water a day that will only be given to them at specific government outposts around the city.

Cape Town’s mayor Patricia de Lille‏ tweeted: “I cannot stress it enough: all residents must save water and use less than 87 liters [19 gallons] per day… We must avoid Day Zero and saving water is the only way we can do this.” Not missing the opportunity to levy extra taxes on the populace, the city mayor has also impeded a “drought charge” in order to fund new water projects, such as constructing desalination plants.

The key to beating a drought has always been storage. Water storage can make the difference between a harvest or crop failure, life or death. There are many methods to storing water. Digging reservoirs or ponds to collect the water when it does rain. Having buried cisterns will beat the effects of evaporation that accompany drought conditions. Using 55-gallon drums of treated water in your home can be a huge blessing when the tap runs dry or the source has been contaminated.

All of this can be done without the government, so you aren’t left waiting in line for your government-rationed water.